Nancy ends up alone not because she rejects love, but because her entire identity has revolved around her autonomy. Her narrative arc isn't about finding the right person; it's about becoming fully herself.
Yes... I saw someone say that absolute nonsense crap.
First of all, not having a storyline that revolves around love doesn't mean that the character can't have romance. So it has nothing to do with having your character end up single just because their main storyline isn't romantic.
Yes, Nancy's character arc has always revolved in part around her independence, but that doesn't preclude romantic relationships. I'd even go so far as to say that combining independence and romance is a rarity these days. And it sends the wrong message to suggest that an independent woman is necessarily a single woman. Which seems to be becoming a frightening trend in fiction these days...
Furthermore, Nancy's arc wasn't solely focused on that; it also revolved around a multitude of unresolved traumas. Yes, unresolved. Barbara? Hello? Literally the ultimate trigger for Nancy's entire arc related to her career as a journalist? An event also connected to Steve? Who was brought up again in season 4 only to be completely forgotten in season 5? A huge piece of Nancy's arc is missing since she literally never confronted her traumas or grieved for them. It's literally insane.
Not to mention that season 5, by refusing the logical path of finally having Nancy and Steve confront each other about this specific issue (whether there's a positive or negative romantic resolution is irrelevant), at the heart of their former romantic relationship, which, whether you like it or not, was rekindled in season 4, well, it means that Nancy doesn't seem to have evolved psychologically at all, still exhibiting the emotionally closed-off behavior she adopted in season 2. Nancy is therefore stagnant. She hasn't confronted her trauma nor changed her habits of emotional withdrawal either.
As for becoming fully herself? I hope that's a joke? Because, frankly, Nancy doesn't know who she really is at the end of the show. The end of season 5 doesn't give us a complete arc for Nancy.
She has not resolved any of her trauma-related or emotionally avoidant behaviors, and the process of truly finding herself is not even complete.
It's actually quite funny that this "finding herself" aspect only appeared in season 5. We knew perfectly well what Nancy wanted for four seasons: her journalism career, her studies, and romantically, we knew she simply didn't want to end up in a loveless relationship like her parents'. Everything was pretty clear, really. So suddenly introducing doubt about Nancy's dreams in the very last season, instead of developing them throughout the show, shows just how careless the writers were. Not to mention the fact that she suddenly lost sight of her dream of going to university in the show's epilogue.
And also, the fact that the whole issue surrounding Barbara with Nancy and Steve wasn't resolved leaves a very bitter taste in the message related to Nancy's first time. It's as if the story simply punished her for daring to want to sleep with her boyfriend. Everyone always told Nancy that she absolutely shouldn't be with Steve, that she was wrong, that it wasn't like her, etc. And in the end, it's as if they were right and she wasn't. As if the story punished her for not listening to people. It's incredibly unpleasant.
Oh, and the whole idea of ââNancy having to discover the real world seems very much taken from the nauseating speech Jonathan gave to Nancy in season 3.
So nothing is really settled for Nancy. The narrative seems to have punished her for being sexually active, and she essentially ends up in a context that her toxic ex, with whom she was in a relationship due to shared trauma, constantly reminded her of.
Oh, and... if the romantic aspect didn't matter in Nancy's arc... why bring Stancy back in season 4? And why didn't Nancy get any resolution with Steve in season 5? Not even to reject him! It just doesn't make any sense! Just admit that the Duffers simply ignored an entire storyline that they had reintegrated.
People who are trying to defend how the ending of Stranger Things was written, honestly... you're just making fools of yourselves. That's all I have to say. You're willing to accept any crap you're given and say anything to defend that crap.
